


Bovine Arithmetic

by primeideal



Category: Wayside School - Louis Sachar
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-07
Updated: 2014-09-07
Packaged: 2018-02-16 10:21:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2266137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/primeideal/pseuds/primeideal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Interlude, post "Falling Down." Another math lesson.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bovine Arithmetic

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SailorSol](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SailorSol/gifts).



> I didn't participate in Fic Corner this year but I loved that this fandom was requested, and thought it deserved at least a little drabble!

Miss Zarves never stopped coming to school, even when the cows were there. Of course, there was no Miss Zarves. But then, of course, she couldn't have stopped coming. Maybe she never left.

"I would like you to draw a nonagon," said Miss Zarves.

One of the cows regarded the chalk for a moment. Then it started to eat the chalk.

"Please don't eat my chalk," said Miss Zarves. "I don't know when I'll be able to get any more, you see."

The cows mooed.

"Some of the other teachers would deal with this by writing your name on the blackboard, under the word DISCIPLINE," Miss Zarves remembered. "But I'm afraid I'm low on chalk at the moment."

One of the other cows shifted in the back.

"No," said Miss Zarves, "you may not leave to use the bathroom. The bulls' room is already full." She turned back to the cow in the front. "And I don't know your name, either."

Another moo.

"Well, would you like to draw a decagon?"

The cow stamped all four feet.

"I suppose it's easier, being symmetrical."

A cow in the back wagged her tail. "I don't think there's a short name for the other shapes. Just the numbers, climbing higher. 11-gon, 12-gon..." Miss Zarves looked out the window, as if expecting a ball to bounce up at her. Any sign of humanity from the stories below.

"And when you've added more and more corners, forever and ever," she said, "you have a circle. Which means it never really had any corners at all."

A cow stepped away from the corner of the room, leaving behind a token of its presence.

"That's calculus, you know!" said Miss Zarves. "My students don't always pay much attention, but I'm sure _you're_  precocious enough. If you climb no stairs, in no time at all, how fast are you going?"

The bull who'd been in the bathroom wandered back into the room, yawning.

"Pay attention!" Miss Zarves snapped. "Really, if nothing else, you ought to learn something about ribs and prime ribs."


End file.
